


You're All the Family I Need

by victoridiaz



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Peraltiago, Sort of AU, amy's dad doesn't make up with Jake like he did in season 4, b99 - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 04:25:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14947553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/victoridiaz/pseuds/victoridiaz
Summary: “You’re sloppy, messy, unorganized, and childish, and I don’t want you anywhere near my daughter.”Jake meets Amy's dad on Thanksgiving, except there is no old case to solve, and Mr. Santiago does not approve of Jake's relationship with Amy. Amy wants to make it work, but Jake doesn't want to drive a stake between Amy and her father, so he tries desperately to make Mr. Santiago forgive him.





	You're All the Family I Need

 

“You’re sloppy, messy, unorganized, and childish, and I don’t want you anywhere near my daughter.”

The words rang in Jake’s head as he rolled along in the back of Mr. Santiago’s car. Things had been extremely awkward since the short, heated session of yelling, before Jake had been banished to the back and hadn’t spoken since. He’s called his girlfriend’s father a loser, which was pretty much code for being a loser himself. Jake sighed. His own father hadn’t cared in the slightest, and Amy’s father cared way too much. It was making him think. What if he _wasn’t_ good enough for Amy? What if Mr. Santiago was right? Type A, hyper-organized, professional Amy was way too good for Jake’s sloppiness. He wondered how the conversation would go when they got back to the house. It was Thanksgiving, and everything had gone wrong. He wondered if everyone secretly thought the same as Mr. Santiago. That Jake Peralta wasn’t good enough for Amy Santiago. Not good enough indeed.

 

“We’re back” called Jake half-heartedly as they walked through the door.

“Dad! Jake! You’re here, thank goodness, we’re just about to have- what’s wrong?” Amy’s excitement turned to concern as she spotted the agitated looks on the pair of faces.

Jake supposed it was better to just let her know the truth. “Your father doesn’t think I’m good enough for you. He thinks I’m sloppy and that we don’t even deserve to live together.”

“What?!?” Amy turned to her father. “ _What?!?!”_ She repeated. After one more “what”, she looked back at Jake. “Both of you, explain yourselves! Dad, Jake made a _binder_ in order to make you like him? Isn’t that a Santiago thing to do? Jake, what did you say to him?”

“Let’s not throw around accusations, Amy.” Mr. Santiago spoke coldly. “Jake made a binder, as did I. I discovered what a slob your boyfriend is, and I was just trying to look out for your best interests. I mean, Amy, look at his credit score!”

“Hey!!” Jake sputtered. “It’s not that bad!”

“Both of you, calm down, _please._ ” Amy hissed.

Jake realized that the entire squad was seated at the table, watching them earnestly. Gina appeared to be filming. Charles looked like he was about to cry.

“Let’s just sort this out later. I’m begging you, _both of you,_ just please get along for dinner.” Said Amy, exasperated. “Captain’s here” she hissed afterwards.

Jake couldn’t believe it. His girlfriend wasn’t even defending him. Not that he expected her too, he was obviously such a mess that she couldn’t be bothered. Jake vaguely passed by the thought that it could be the presence of Captain Holt, but he brushed it aside. Mr. Santiago had finally talked sense into his daughter.

The dinner was unbearably awkward. Amy attempted to start small talk with Rosa, which ended in several gruesome threats and a very uncomfortable father. Adrian Pimento kept making completely inappropriate comments, most of them having to do with blood, and Gina was literally revelling in the pool of silent drama, which didn’t make anything easier for Jake and Amy. It also didn’t help that Charles kept pointlessly defending Jake, despite multiple cues from multiple people to cut it out. Most of the guests left quickly and orderly afterward, leaving Jake, Amy, and Mr. Santiago alone the apartment.

 

“Don’t you…have a place to be?” asked Amy’s dad coolly to Jake.

“I live here, if you haven’t forgotten.” He hissed back, putting as much venom into his voice as possible.

“Both of you, control yourselves!” Snarled Amy. “Dad, can I talk to you in private?” The two plodded off into another room.

Of course Amy wanted to talk to her father first. Jake bit his lip and wandered into their bedroom, staring at his shelf of Die Hard merchandise scattered with Amy’s favourite binder clips. He glanced at Amy’s life calendar hanging above the bed, and the red ink marks where she had carefully woven Jake into each and every week. He sighed at the sight of the little heart written beside his name. What if Amy really did think he was sloppy? His dresser was a complete mess. And yes, his credit score was terrible. He was in awful debt, had no idea how to manage his money, and didn’t even own a calendar. He’d only been living in Amy’s apartment for a few months, but it felt so much more like home. He felt an uncomfortable wave of anxiety as he pictured his girlfriend crossing out his name on her calendar. He wondered if she had used erasable ink, just in case. He could barely imagine a world where he and Amy weren’t dating. Work would be so awkward, Charles might actually have a fatal heart attack and die, and Jake would be heartbroken. Before he knew it, he was spiraling into a thousand different possibilities, and flopped down on the bed, holding back tears. Just as he was about to start thinking about how he would react when Amy broke up with him, there came a knock at the door.

“Jake?” Amy asked quietly, opening the door.

Jake’s face was pressed into the pillow. “Mmmphf.” He responded.

“Jake, come on, you didn’t take all that stuff my dad said seriously, did you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, sure dad thinks you’re a mess, but that doesn’t mean I do.” Amy sat down next to him. “Look, I’m sorry I kind of freaked out. The whole squad was here, and I just wanted this meeting to go well so badly, I just wanted my dad to support me, but when that didn’t happen, I kind of panicked. I’m not mad at you, just a little annoyed. I mean, I’m my own person. I get to decide for myself who I date, not my father or my colleagues.” Seeing the look on Jake’s face, she added “I’m angrier at dad. He can’t seem to let it go.”

“I’m sorry Amy. I guess I freaked out too. I thought you might have believed everything your dad said…after all, I’m a total mess compared to you. Look at my dresser.” Jake sighed.

Amy smiled. “Jake, I’m not going to deny you’re a bit unorganized. But I love you anyway! I love how much you don’t care, I love how much you’re able to take any situation and roll with it, I love how you can function without planning your entire year out in a calendar. If I were with someone as high strung as myself, I would get even worse! We balance each other out, you and I. And I love you anyway, no matter what my father says. I’m sorry I got upset, I just wanted so badly for him to like you. But we can’t all have everything.” She gently kissed him, draping her hand around his neck.

“Thanks Ames. I love you too.” _But that’s not good enough._ Jake was all-too-familiar with bad father-son relationships, and he never wanted Amy to have to go through what he did. Jake was going to make Mr. Santiago like him, or Jake wasn’t, well, Jacob Peralta. He’d got off to a bad start with Holt, but now the man was pretty much obsessed with him, wasn’t he? And all it took for Kevin to like him was a little…well, Jake wasn’t so sure Kevin liked him at all, actually. But he had to make Mr. Santiago at least let his relationship with Amy slide, or else Amy would have a terrible relationship with her father, and Jake wasn’t going to let that happen.

 

Jake started planning his “get Mr. S to like Mr. P” scheme as soon as Amy had fallen asleep. Trying to agree with Mr. Santiago had obviously been the wrong approach, so this time, Jake was going to try and make himself 100% more neat and organized. He started with his dresser. The second Mr. Santiago walked into the bedroom, he was going to be horrified by the sight of clothes lying around, crumpled posters, and useless clutter crowding the space. However, as soon as Jake attempted to purge the first round, he found cleaning out all his old posters and figures much too difficult. He couldn’t leave his ten, 7 inch, life-like replicas of John Maclean, coul0d he? Or his detailed model of Nakatomi Plaza? Or the tiny, useless robot his best friend in grade 6 had given him as a birthday present? No, the dresser was too hard. He was just going to have to keep Mr. Santiago out of the bedroom.

Next up was his desk. Mr. Santiago was going to be touring the precinct in the afternoon, and Jake had precisely 4 hours to fix the absolute war zone that was his workspace. He arrived early with a pack of plastic bags, ready to finally clean everything out, but gave up after half an hour and just shoved everything inside of a spare drawer. He wouldn’t need to open it for Mr. Santiago anyway. He did receive a few compliments from Holt, which inspired him to take it to the next step: his hygiene.  Jake had already improved his habits by a million since he started dating Amy, but if he really wanted to show Mr. Santiago that he cared, it was time for the scented shampoo. He quickly did a little research, and found that Amy’s father’s favourite scent was _ocean breeze._ However, when he got to the store, he was faced with an entire shelf full of ocean breezes, each one just staring up at him with that threateningly expensive price tag.

“NO, Charles, I’m _not_ getting it so I can shampoo Amy’s head.” Muttered Jake over the phone as he tried to decide.

“Are you sure? Shampooing a woman’s head is the most erotic- “Jake hung up. Charles was of no help whatsoever.

 

After the shampoo, Jake selected a few high-class colognes, then a skin care package that was technically for women, but it was shown on the package that it made your skin feel like a “Cuban breeze” which was all it took to get Jake hooked.

He felt pretty good about it by the afternoon, when Mr. Santiago stepped into the precinct. He paced over to Amy’s desk and laid a hand on it. “immaculate as ever, Amy.” He said, then promptly walked away.

Amy looked concerned. “No comment about the binders. Something must be bothering him.” She fretted, glancing at Jake.

“Why?!?” He muttered. “I cleaned my desk! Look at it, you can see the surface! Uh- I mean, you can always see the surface. I was just appreciating how it got a nice waxing last night. Because I definitely wax my desk, I’m a normal person.” He grinned up at Mr. Santiago.

“If you think you’re going to win me over with a sub-par desk surface, Jacob, you’re wrong.” Said the man, and walked away. “Come, Amy, show me the evidence room.”

Furious, Jake turned to Rosa. “Sub-par?!?” He hissed. “This is the best it’s looked in _years!_ ”

“I know. Man, that guy has high standards. You’re in over your head, Jake. Look, not everyone is going to like you. It’s not like it’s the end of the world.”

“You’re probably right, Rosa, but I can’t do it to Amy. I just can’t.” Jake was going to have to climb even higher. He was going to make a calendar.

 

It was almost midnight when Amy walking into the bedroom to find a sleepy Jake scribbling things down on a shiny piece of graphed paper. “Oh my god, Jacob, what are you doing?” she exclaimed, striding over to him.

“Ames, I know, right? Me, making a calendar? This must be the best day of your life. Look, it’s even a Die Hard one!” Jake beamed.

“No, Jake, I mean it, what are you _doing?_ ”

“huh?”

“I thought I gave you a whole speech about how I loved the way you are! And now suddenly you’re doing all this? You cleaned your desk, you smell like Cuba, and now you’re making a calendar? Jake, I love you because you’re you, not for all of this! Stop trying to make my dad happy, because it’s not going to make _me_ happy. You’re dating _me,_ not him. I don’t care what he thinks, I’m my own person, and I love you anyway. I love that you cleaned your desk, but seriously, the motive behind it is a bad one. I’m sure my father will come around eventually.” Amy sat down beside him, and put her hand over his.

Jake’s face fell. “Ames…I’m sorry, I just…I know what it’s like to have a terrible relationship with your father. And it sucks. And I just didn’t want you to go through what I did…but I can try to let it go. For you. I just don’t want us to ruin your bond with your Dad, that’s all.”

“Jake. I love you, no matter what my father thinks. I don’t want you to change for him. You’re perfect just the way you are. You’re all the family I need.”

“Ames…” was all Jake could say, before he was kissing his girlfriend and running his hands through her hair. He gently let his hands fall around her neck, feeling her fingers lightly press his chest. He hadn’t even changed out of his regular work clothes, and still had his badge draped around his neck. He smiled at Amy, before feeling his eyes flutter shut. He was exhausted, and definitely in the mood for a comfy cuddle. She persuaded him out of the chair and under the covers, where he fell asleep almost instantly, lying in Amy’s arms. Not everything was in Jake Peralta’s control, but he loved his girlfriend anyway.

 

The next day was Saturday, and Jake lazily emerged at around 9:00 am for breakfast, forgetting about the Santiago early-birds. He was surprised to see Mr. Santiago sitting at the breakfast table, smiling.

“Good morning, Jacob.” He said, offering Jake an orange.

Jake took the fruit, despite his hatred for them. “Mr. Santiago? I thought we….” He trailed off.

“yes. I recall our last conversation. But don’t worry, I had another talk with Amy this morning, and I realized something.”

Jake put down the orange.

“Jacob, you might not be a Santiago. You’re not neat, you’re not organized, you don’t like binders, and you don’t even keep a journal. But you care. Amy told me how much you desperately tried to get me to like you, all for her. You even attempted to start a calendar. And you made that binder, the day we met. I may not agree with you on every front, but I can see that you care about my daughter deeply, and she cares about you, and that’s all I want, is for my daughter to be happy. I thought that you wouldn’t be the right person for that, but now I see I was wrong. So I hope you accept my apology.” Mr. Santiago held out his hand and smiled.

“Wow…thank you, sir. Apology accepted.” He shook it. “So we’re good?”

“We’re good.”

“Noice.” Jake grinned, and got up to fetch the orange soda from the fridge, but quickly met eyes with Amy, and decided that putting orange soda on his cereal might not be the best start to this new relationship.

Mr. Santiago was right, Jake sure cared a lot about his future wife.

 

 

               

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you guys for reading! Kudos and comments are always appreciated! :) also I didn’t know what amy’s dad’s first name was so sorry for consistently calling him “Mr. Santiago” lol


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